March 26, 1962

Or. Detlev W. Bronk
President

Natlonal Academy of Sctences
2101 Constitution Avenue
Washington 25, B.C.

MEMO: Reply to your letter of January 16.
| can only state my own views.

1. The academy can best serve the nation by divesting itself as
far as possible of its present routine administrative and consultative
duties. The importance of science in national policy Is now very well
recognized and there seem to be ample Institutions for advice and review
within the executive branches of the government without requiring the
duplicate structure of Academy Involvement. The academy has hlstorically
acquired a large number of routine and continulng functions that could
better be left to administrative bodies within the government.

2. | have serlous forebodings about the Ifkely success of the
recent Committee on Government Policy. As 1 understand It this was es-
tablished primarlly to act as a source of science advice to the legislative
branch comparable to the excellent advice now available to the executive.
This Is certainly a very worthy objective, but | am very dubfous whether the
Committee as Indicated will be able to make a very effective contribution
to It. A publically announced body of this kind will Inevitably find Itself
iddatified with one or another Issue of serfous political content, and |
do not see how it will be able to function responsibly to a serles of con-
gressfonal committees of alternating political orlentation. One of the
principal responsibilities of the president of the Academy Is to establish
a@ personal reputation for Integrity and non«partisanship that will lead
Congress to turn to him as a matter of course for advice on where to obtain
objective scientific consultation. But { think It Is expecting too much to
expect Congress to accept the Academy's formal designees in the structure
of such a committee as the place where Congress must get Its advice. It
Is, of course, precisely on the basis of the same issues that the President
has nominated his own scéenti fic advisory committee rather than rely upon
the pre-established nominations of the Academp for advice to the Executive.

NAO YC

3. 1 belfleve there may be a strong argument 60r maintaining the
Presidency of the Academy as a part time Job. {f as | have already Indicated,
and continue to hope, the Academy can establish Itself as a kind of court
of last resort for objective evaluation of Issues, as they arise on a strictly
Dr. Detlev W. Bronk 2 March 26, 1962

ad hoc basis, It will be able to contribute a service that Is quite unique
‘and beyond the capacity of any other organization.. But It can only do this
If its participation In policy recommendation Is of ad hoc character so
that the governing bodies of the Academy do not become identified with any
particular party line on the basis of past orlentation. This objective

Is, of course, quite compatible with a full time presidency and staff, but
| believe there are all too many Instances where the staff tends to pro-
lfiferate and make work for Itself that may more properly belong In other
quarters, and a validly part time organization, or at least top leadership
may tend to avert this danger.

| reelize that these recommendations represent a substantial reversal
in the way the Academy has tended to evolve during the past years. However,
1 would not make such proposals If I did not feel that many of the more
routine functions of the Academy were not already vary wel! served by other
organizations. The Academy has, of course, played a most Important part
already In bringing this about.

With cordial regards,

Joshua Lederberg
Professor of Genetics

P.S. A corollary to my previous remarks Is that the Academy can be most
effective where it takes the initiative itself rather than performing a
task set for It by the government. One very serious problem that only a
body IIlke the Academy could undertake is the serlous impact of scientIsts’
Involvement In policy on thelr effectiveness In thelr University functions.
1 am sure that you are not Insensitive to this yourself. We are all willing
to make substantial personal sacrifices. {it Is not always certaln that we
have exercised the best judgement In how to allocate our time as between
the laboratory and classroom and the comalttee room In Washington. In any
eveat, we should be taking strenuous measures to Insure that academic time
Is used efficiently In such diversionary functions and there ts certainly
plenty of evidence to the contrary. It is always possible to justify the
existence of another committee, even when it goes over much of the same
ground as another committee In same other branch. But | am not convinced
that this point Is made emphatically enough to take proper account of the
total costs. In any case, the quality of the people involved in science
policy could be very much improved if It were manifest that thelr time
mould be jealously conserved and efficiently applied.

enc. (1)